Early on, people told Kim Walter he wouldn’t last long as an official. “I enjoyed it from the very beginning, although I wasn’t very good when I first started,” he said. “I didn’t have a knack for it at first.” But about 16 years and more than 1,000 games later, Walter is glad he stuck with officiating, an activity that continues to challenge him. “I’ve improved over time,” he said, “but I still feel like I’m improving.”
Be cool Walter grew up in a Chicago suburb and played point guard for his high school team. As an official, he had to learn to approach the game differently. Players thrive on adrenaline, but “as an official you need to separate yourself from the emotion of the game and have the coolest head out there,” said Walter.
One to remember Walter, who mainly works prep boys and community college men’s games, has officiated at four high school state tournaments. His most memorable prep contest came in 2002 at the 4A state tourney. In the fourth-place game Snohomish, led by brothers Jon and Paul Brockman, lost by one point (71-70) against a Garfield team that featured Brandon Roy and Isaiah Stanback.
Simply the best Walter said Blaine graduate Luke Ridnour, now a Seattle SuperSonics point guard, is the best player he ever officiated. “His passing and his ability to see the whole floor were incredible,” Walter said.
The toughest call to make? Deciding whether to call a defensive block or an offensive charging foul. Sometimes it looks like a tie, Walter said, “but we’re not allowed to call ties.”
The biggest misconception among fans? “They want a foul on every contact that occurs,” Walter said, “but we’re working on the principle of advantage and disadvantage.” For example, a defender bumps an offensive player but the contact doesn’t create a disadvantage. The offensive player passes to a teammate for an easy lay-in. No foul, and the offense benefits from the no-call. Said Walter, “You don’t want to call a foul too early.”
Day job Walter is a dentist who has worked in Mill Creek for 25 years. He lives in Seattle
Favorite recent book “The World is Flat” by Thomas L. Friedman, who looks at how improvements in technology and communications have altered the planet. “He really makes us aware of all the amazing changes that are happening in our world – the global perspective of how we’re all connected in the world, whether we like it or not,” Walter said.
Mike Cane, Herald Writer
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